JetBlue Employees Charged In Credit Card Scam

Don’t leave your credit card on the JetBlue counter at JFK! Four JetBlue employees and a city corrections officer are charged with stealing credit card numbers from JetBlue passengers, according to Newsday. The “JetBlue 5″ as we’ve decided to call them, used the cards to go on a “spending spree” that included “restaurants, liquor stores, and shops including Bloomingdale’s and Victoria’s Secret.” Naughty!

The “JetBlue 5″ were caught after a passenger left his credit card on the JetBlue counter and someone (tee hee! Guess who!) thought it would be a really good idea to “run up 508 in charges.”

Why are we somehow not suprised that 3 of the (alleged) culprits were Customer Service employees. One was a flight attendant. David “Mortified” Neeleman has yet to comment on the story, but we assume some heartfelt apology is forthcoming. Right, Dave? —MEGHANN MARCO

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JetBlue just keeps digging itself in deeper, doesn’t it? They used to have a great reputation for good service and good customer service, but I’m now rethinking my original plan to fly them this summer on a trip to New England.I originally planned to book on JetBlue but maybe now I’ll take Southwest and just travel a little longer to get to my intended destination.

@Buran: Just fly them yourself and see what YOU think. The negative coverage they’ve been getting in the press really isn’t indicative of their overall customer service or the experience of flying them.

@facted: Maybe. But Southwest is a known quantity — and complaints about a given company often do reflect accurately on their behavior overall. JetBlue seems to be getting negative press so often in general that I’m not as confident in their ability to do the right thing anymore.

There’s a reason JetBlue has won the Conde Nast best domestic airline award many times in the past few years (including 2006) and it’s not because they frequently strand people on the tarmac, or that their employees are caught stealing a credit card. Things happen at every airline, and it’s the media’s decision on whether to make a big deal of it or not.

The question for me is, on a day-to-day basis, what does the airline bring to the table? Does Southwest have Free Direct TV at every seat? No. Does Southwest have assigned seating? Not that I’m aware of.

I have flown on JetBlue countless times (probably over 30 at this point), and I’ve yet to have a bad experience. I’ve flown on American, AirTran, Delta and others and every time, without fail, something goes wrong. Whether it be a lost bag, a missed connection due to malfunctioning equipment (on New Years nonetheless!!!), or it taking 2 hours to get my bag after my plane landed.

Take the media’s word if you’d like, but I’d suggest trying it yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

@Buran: Which is weird, because since you live in St. Louis, flying JetBlue anywhere seems like more trouble than its worth.

I’ve been flying JetBlue for going on 5 years now; I’m on their Oakland/JFK run at least three times a year. I can count on one hand – literally – the amount of problems I’ve had with them in that amount of time.

The airline is far from dead or dying, and as long as other airlines continue to go down the path that inevitably leads to charging for toilet paper on the plane, assuming you paid the fee to allow you to use said facilities before boarding, they’ll still be the best around.

(I’ll be interested in at least trying Virgin America should it ever actually get its wings, though. Having more options for trans-con flights is a very good thing.)

Aggreed. I know in my company the CSR group are some of the hardest working individuals I know. Just because very few people actually want to be a CSR doesnt mean that everyone who is one is somehow criminally defunct.

I can only go by personal experience, I was on the airtrain and heard three jetblue employees (in uniform) use the word “f@G” repeatedly. there was a homosexual couple accross from them, needless to say it was an awkward situation and doesn’t say much about jetblue PR.